Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, folks, for your presentation. There seems to be a lot of optimism on the part of all of you, and that's good to see. But to be honest about it, where there's less optimism is at the primary producers' gate. We're constantly hearing, increasingly so, and especially in the beef and hog sector these days, that we've have had in Canada our five worst years on farm income while the Americans have had their five best years. I think we want to do everything we can do to ensure that there is investment in your industry, that government is there, that the farm community is there, and that the regulatory regime is right.
The great concern in the farm community, at the farm level, is that everybody else in the farm food chain seems to be making a profit. It's a little different right now in grains and oilseeds, but primary producers, to a great extent, haven't been. When you talk to primary producers, at the production level, there is concern about some of the companies that you folks associate with as well.
It's not on the technological side, actually, but do you see from your perspective anything that can be done to ensure that there's a better sharing of profits at the farm level, of those total profits throughout the system, so that the primary producers get their share?
I do have some questions on inspection fees and the regulatory regime, but if you can think about that one.... Does anybody have any answers? That's the big concern. As somebody said in the beginning—I believe you, Jeff—if you don't have primary producers, then you folks are impacted too. And we do know that research companies tend to target the American midwest. That's where the biggest market is, and we're often considered niche markets in terms of the larger companies. Have you any thoughts on that?